Brides Against Breast Cancer

They are back in Austin for the second time. This is your chance to purchase the dress of your dreams at a reasonable price. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. There are also several links below for you to sign up to attend or volunteer.

http://babcaustin11.eventbrite.com

http://austinbabcvolunteers.eventbrite.com

Some of Our Favorite Things!

Here are three things we knew weren't necessary, but we are so happy we did them and we highly recommend them!

The First is the Ice Sculpture. Doug at Amazing Ice Designs, a wonderful dog lover too, is ridiculously talented. I am so grateful he was able to help me and, of course, our guests loved it! So much so, had I known, I might have ordered an ice sculpture bar or at least a martini luge. I will keep that in my mind for the next party.



The Godiva Chocolate for the favors, they were a generous gift to myself and Brandt. MMM, they were good and very few were left and those that were, were taken on the plane back to OHIO, so my mom could share with all the family members that could not attend.


The third were the Welcome Bags for the hotel rooms. I wish we had taken a photo of one of them. However, I loved them and loved filling them with some of Austin's and some of our favorite things: granola bars, aspirin, band aids, Altoids, chap stick, flip-flops, shaving cream, oatmeal, Austin postcards, bumper stickers, tissue, hot tea, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and yes, we remembered the children too. We wanted to welcome each person to the Live Music Capital of the World with swag bags and a personalized note, thanking them for traveling so far! I am so glad we did it!

Color, Color! Everywhere

For all the people who know me, I can't get enough of colors, especially bright ones, and especially coral. I still haven't lived down the horrific orange I once tried to paint our half bath, now repainted a stoic Swiss coffee.

I can't tell you how difficult it was to blend all the colors I wanted so I could create centerpieces and find beautiful shoes! Oh, and thank goodness I had Becky at Bouquets of Austin. I had a budget and an idea (truly my maid of honors idea) and until I spoke with Becky, I didn't know I had any other opinions. Needless to say, she asked the right questions and guided me. She was able to glean perfection from my babbled confusion, magazine clippings, and checkbook. This is why I went to Bouquets of Austin and Becky. Hands down, the most referred floral company in Austin, for a reason.

Take a look at the photos, because she nailed every placement, every color, and design. Becky made me want to become a florist the second I saw my centerpieces. My mother was so excited about the shepherd hooks lining the aisle. (Mancino Iron Works)I also loved the flowers that were there for my hair. I had forgotten I had asked for them and I was so excited when I saw them! Plus, somehow she had flowers the exact same color of my shoes!

Note: I also added the Purple napkins from Premier Party Central! They made the whole room POP! and it was an inexpensive way to bring in more and stick with my budget! I could have spent so much money in their showroom! If you have the budget, I encourage everyone to rent ottomans, decorations for the trees, and pretty, pretty, soft light layered linens.

http://bouquetsofaustin.com/
http://premierepartycentral.com/

P.S. If Bouquets of Austin is booked, I also highly recommend Visual Lyric.

The Best Wedding Music Ever

Statistically, most brides spend 500 hours planning the wedding of their dreams. However, my hours of labor were spent on music. I chose at least one song for every person/couple that were going to be in attendance at our wedding. And, I did not want one song that would remind me of being a wedding DJ. Below is what I gave Jordann, our DJ, to get her ready to spin!


Prelude:

La Vie En Rose – Edith Piaf
Dancing with Myself – Nouvelle Vague
Amazing Life – Jem
Falling Slowly – Glen Hansard
Rivers of Babylon – Melodians
Green is the Color of Love – Pink Floyd
Sweet Jane – Velvet Underground
Wave of Mutilation (UK surf) – The Pixies
Lebanese Blonde – Theivery Corporation
Mil Besos – Patty Griffin
That's Just How that Bird Sings – The Twilight Singers
Besame Mucho – Cesario Evora
Beautiful Maria of My Soul: Mambo Kings
Feeling Good – Nina Simone
Brand New Colony - Postal Service
Es Por Ti – Juanes
Butterflies – David Garza
Mirror – Velvet Underground
Hallelujiah – Leonard Cohen
Wild Horses – The Sundays



Ceremony

1. Processional for Aunts: What is the Light? - Flaming Lip
2. Groom's Processional: Sabracadabra : Black Sabbath
3. Bridesmaids Processional: Bittersweet Symphony – The Verve
4. Bride's Processional: Here comes the Sun – Beatles
5. Unity Candle: In the Aeroplane Over the Sea Part 1, - Neutral Milk Hotel sung by...
6. Recessional: It's the End of the World as we Know it – REM


Cocktail Music

Stickshifts Safety Belts – Cake
Beast of Burden – Rolling Stones
Make a Little Birdhouse in Your Soul - They Might be Giants
Where's My Mind At – Pixies
Jane Says – Jane's Addiction
Wonderwall – Oasis
Wild World – Cat Stevens
John Prine and Iris Dement – In Spite of Ourselves
I walk the Line -Johnny Cash
Whiskey Bar – Doors
Hot Child in the City – Nick Glider
Free falling – Tom Petty
Dinosaur Junior – Feel the Pain
We Belong – Pat Benatar
Like a friend – Pulp
Engineer Bill – Eliza Gilkyson
May the Wind Take Your Troubles Away – Sun Volt
cara luna --bacilos
Pictures of Lily – The Who
Under the Milky Way – The Church


Dinner Music


Bambaleo: Gypsy Kings
Vacancy - White Stripes
Summer Girl – Beck
The More you Ignore Me, The Closer I get – Morrissey
Holland 1945 – Neutral Milk Hotel
Carry The Zero – Built to Spill
Stoned – Old 97's
Tell me something Good – Chaka Khan
Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond
Romeo and Juliet – Indigo Girls
Miss Celie's Blues
I wanna be your lover -Prince
Urban Dance Squad – Deeper shade of soul
Lips Like Sugar – Echo and the Bunnymen
I want You – Cee Lo Green
I Wanna Make it Wit Chu – Queens of the Stone Age
Level – Racontaurs
Crazy – Gnarls Barkley
Under Pressure – Queen
Here Comes My Girl – Tom Petty
Harvest Moon – Neil Young
Luckenbach Texas – Willie and Waylon
Build Me Up Buttercup – Foundations
My favorite Memory – Merle Haggard


Break between toasts and moving to Cake: Special Dance CD in order
1. Waka Waka (Esto Es Africa) – Shakira
2. Here Comes Your Man – Pixies
3. Everyone's Free – Aquagen featuring Rozalla

Cake:
4. Shoes: Kristi McCall
5. Islands – Shakira

6. First Dance: Old 97's - Question
7. Family Dance: Landslide: Dixie Chicks
8. Hora

Dance:

2.Don't Stop til you get enough – Michael Jackson Must
3. Mana – Eres Mi Religion
4.Moonriver – Henry Mancini (Slow) Must
5.Juanes – La Camisa Negra (Both Brandt and I love)
6.Daddy Yankee – Lo Que Paso Paso
7.Lady Gaga – Pokerface - Must
8.Suavamente – Elvis Crespo - Must
9. La Vida Es Un Carnaval – Celia Cruz
10.I don't feel like dancing – Scissor Sisters
11.Loca – Shakira
12.Last dance: Circle Salute first Don't Stop Believing – Journey – Must

A couple old Country like George Strait if requested
Brandt likes Al Green/ Marvin Gaye Think Let's Get it On
Bob Marley : Is this love?
ABC – Jackson Five – Must
We are Family - Must
Did I mention I love PRINCE? Shakira?
70's and 80's Disco, New Wave Old Hip Hop


Icebreakers:
YMCA: If someone requests, but please use hats. If someone requests others, fine, but only if needed and try to stay away from macarena, limbo, and hokey pokey.

For the Happy Couples Dance a slow Elvis will do for Mother In Law. Important - Must




Do Not Play List

Backstreet Boys
Celine Dion (Not even if someone tries to slip you a $20)
Current rap or harder hip hop
Anything on the Slow CDS in your CD book
New Kids on the Block
New Country
Anything cheesy, however ice breakers are fine
Brittany Spears unless someone requests a popular one that you think people will dance to like they would at Rain e.g. Toxic
Bryan Adams, Bette Midler, Whitney Houston, any 80's diva
Michael Bolton, Hanson, Billy Ray Cyrus, butterfly kisses
No Missy Elliott no matter how much I love her, No Eminem Either
Kelly clarkson and any other IDOL
Cheesy slow 80's
Leave A&M and UT at the door. Some people will think this is funny, but I don't. College was a long time ago.

Whew...The Wedding is Over and the Day was Amazing!

And I am not talking about the royal wedding, but my own. Everything was perfect and went superbly well. The honeymoon period is over and all my thank you notes have been mailed...I hope. However, the wonder of having almost all my favorite people under one roof makes me reminisce every moment of the wedding each day. I only wish I could have added another five hours to the reception so I could have talked to everyone more and danced a little longer.

I was so nervous about insuring the hospitality for all of our friends and family and they were thrilled, thanks to all my vendors, I was relieved. The true test of any wedding is what the guests will say and here are some of their comments about the wedding, Vintage Villas, cake, and all of the other vendors.

1. The best food anybody had ever tasted at any wedding they had attended. (Vegetarians and meat eaters alike) They also loved the breakfast the next morning. In fact, during photos, my aunt was asking me if I could get their recipe for Chicken Satay!
2. The view was so fantastic and they were happy to see a part of Austin they rarely get to see when they travel.
3. The hotel was gorgeous, comfortable, and the entire staff was friendly and kind.
4. AHEM...The BEST MUSIC anyone had ever heard at any wedding. Thank you, that was me.
5. The cakes were delicious and moist. Friends are still trying to raid my freezer for the remainder.

6. Ooh, the Ice Sculpture. One guest spent quite a long time trying to figure out how Doug (Amazing Ice Designs) created that piece of art.
7. The flowers were gorgeous! The centerpieces and bouquets were phenomenal!
8. The chuppah was extraordinary.
9. The ceremony was unique and the reception was fun. Yes, Yes, they were!
10. The welcome bags were welcomed!

New and INNOVATIVE First Dance Songs

Okay, so after a year of discussing our first dance, which included comprising list upon list for Brandt, while he turned suggestion after suggestion down and kept saying he wanted to do the Dance Evolution Mix, but didn't want to practice, we have finally chosen a song. I mean, Brandt finally chose a song, "Question" by the Old 97's! Here is a list of songs that we compiled and created for you. While we love Etta James, we don't want to hear "At Last" AGAIN, or anything else so overly done, that will make of our guests yawn! Some are Spanish, some are country, some are new and old, but, hey, there is something for everybody and all are rarely done, if ever!

Someone Like You - Van Morrison
Engineer Bill - Eliza Gilkyson
All I Want Is You - Barry Louis Polisar
Es Por Ti - Juanes
Eres Mi Religion - Mana
My Favorite Memory - Merle Haggard
Question - Old 97's
Islands - Shakira
Here Comes My Girl - Tom Petty and The HeartBreakers
I'll Be Your Mirror - Velvet Underground
Obla Di Obla Da - Beatles
Green is the Colour - Pink Floyd
Giving Up - Ingrid Michaelson
You Have that Affect On Me - Brad Paisley
She's No Lady - Lyle Lovett
Blue Eyes - Cary Brothers
Moon River - Henry Mancini
The Luckiest - Ben Folds
Do You Believe In Magic - Lovin Spoonful
I Second That Emotion - Smokey Robinson
I Want You - Cee-Lo Green
Sideways - Citizen Cope and Santana
Here, There, Everywhere - The Beatles
Harvest Moon - Neil Young
Maybe, I'm Amazed - Jem or Paul McCartney
In the Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
La Vie En Rose - Edith Piaf
Lay Lady Lay - Bob Dylan
Sea of Love - Cat Power
De-Lovely - Cole Porter
So In Love - Cole Porter
Let's Do It - Cole Porter or Alanis Morrisette (Okay, we love Cole Porter)
Besame Mucho - Casaria Evora
How Sweet It Is - James Taylor
Green Eyes - Coldplay
Book of Love - Magnetic Fields
Sleep Walk - Santo and Johnny
We Belong - Pat Benatar (For the funny and the dramatic)
Beautiful Surprise, I See God You - India Arie
If This World Were Mine - Luther Vandross and Cheryl Lynn
Adore, The Beautiful Ones - Prince
Dice - Finley Quaye
All My Days - Alexi Murdoch
Closer To You - Brandi Carlisle
When It Don't Come Easy, Mil Besos - Patty Griffin
Skinny Love - Bon Iver
No One's Going to Love You - Band of Forces
1963 - Rachael Yamagata
Always Love - Nada Surf
Sweet Baby - Macy Gray

CulinART - Quintessential Austin

It is my favorite night out of the year! I don't believe I have missed the annual surreal event in six years!

CulinArt is hosted by the Austin chapter of the International Special Event's Society(ISES)and The Wright House Wellness Center is it's beneficiary. They team up to deliver an evening of talent and craft to entertain each guests eyes and bellies and all for a wonderful cause. This is my idea of perfection.



Brittany, an event coordinator with [clink], spearheaded the night with an unexpected viewpoint into art, culinary deliciousness, and beauty. This year it was held at the Austin Music Hall in downtown Austin, the most exciting venue yet. Ilios Lighting created the mood while body artists walked among us spectators as we bid on glorious silent auction items. I went straight to the art. They never disappoint.

As I kept a watchful eye on the items I bid on, I enjoyed the tasty appetizers and made my way to my table and looked forward to the food. My favorite part of dinner was dessert as Delysia Chocolatier shocked and pleased me by pairing chocolate, wasabi, and rasberries on the same plate. I don't know who thought of that, but thank you.



After dinner, each year, I excuse myself to battle for art with pen to paper. I am competitive and I love to win! My house is becoming an homage to CulinArt! As always, I watch the live auction, the eager bidding numbers silhouette the evening, and listen to the exciting cheers of donations. It would be nice if this is the way I could live every day! I am proud to be apart of the Austin wedding community.


Enjoy the pictures of all the art I picked up and Dessert(From the Top):
"Warm" by Rene Norman
"Paintballs, Not Bullets" photo by Dave Berry
Dessert photo from Delysia Chocolatier
Painting by Jeromy Furguiele

Oh Yes, I Have My DJ

And her name is Jordann Mitchell. I am so excited and there isn't another DJ in the entire city of Austin that I would rather have emcee and play music at my event. I am so happy we have her at Complete Music and Video as the Director of Sales.

Music, of course, is the most important aspect to me at our wedding, so I am working poor Jordann to death during the weekend of my wedding. She is also an amazing musician and not only will she be DJing at the wedding, but she will be playing live music during the rehearsal dinner and playing our first dance live as well. Brandt has no idea either one of these things are happening and it will be a surprise to him. I am pretty sure Brandt doesn't read this blog, so I think my secret is safe.

I chose Jordann for a huge list of reasons. She is the consummate professional, so much fun, not cheesy, and is so great with customer service. This is what I need as a super high maintenance retired wedding DJ.

While I am trying to relax and not try to control every second of the music for the wedding, I also know for ease I want to have all of the prelude, ceremony, special dances on a CD for Jordann so she doesn't stress...too much. This will be my whole job for my wedding this month.

An interesting thing happened as I began to write this post: A very level headed, easy going, Vintage Villas bride walked through our door to drop off music for her wedding on March 12th. As I was discussing when the DJ would call her that she can set up an appointment, etc. She shrugged and said "as long as he shows up, dressed and ready to go, we are good, I mean, I know there are going to be a few mistakes at my wedding, but who cares." I let this very smart bride know that I would like to more like her. There will be mistakes, nothing is perfect and I am going to laugh it off and enjoy myself.

Complete Music and Video WON!!!!

Erica Smith, our National Wedding Wire representative just notified us that Complete Music & Video is one of the Bride’s Choice winners. We are so pleased and honored and wanted to share the good news with everyone!

Mancino Iron Works!

Whether you need a unity candle stand, shepherd hooks, arch, candelabra, or table accent, Mancino Iron Rentals is Austin's favorite place. I met the owner, Alan, years ago at an open house for Hamilton 12, an amazing venue with great food. Brandt and I had just started getting serious, and as I saw Alan load in all the beautiful pieces of iron, I was impressed, and started taking stock of his inventory. Yes, after years of working in the event industry it is hard to impress me, but impressed I was, and it was the first day I let myself daydream about being a bride at a wedding.

Lucky for me, Alan's table was right next to mine during the open house, so each moment I wasn't talking to a bride, I was persistently asking him questions. As I talked to Alan I gleaned quite quickly he was superb at customer service, knowledgeable, and made each person he spoke with feel comfortable and at ease. A prerequisite for hiring any vendor, in my opinion.

As my job duties changed at Complete Music and Video, I hadn't seen Alan in years until it came time to plan my own wedding. While not wedding protocol, and not something I recommend, he was the first vendor I called after I booked Vintage Villas. Now I am thrilled to have his rentals at my wedding, my chupppah maker loves working with him, and everywhere I go and say "I hired Mancino Iron Works" the reply is "Oh, I love working with Alan".

Go to his website at www.mancinoiron.com